Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of printing from individual pieces of movable
cast type in Western Europe revolutionized the printing industry. The key element
was to create adjustable moulds that allowed for easy removal of each cast letter.
Parallel to this thinking, in the Arab eastern region, many reform movements
approached the issue of evolving from calligraphy to typography. Amongst many,
Nasri Khattar’s approach seemed to be drawn on the light of Gutenberg’s method;
creating a limited set of unified detached movable characters for simplification
and ease of use.

Yet, those seemingly unconnected facts diverged due to the technological and cultural developments pertaining to visual communication since the industrial revolution. This industrial revolution that took western cultures by storm inthe 19th century was slow to reach the Arab world, and therefore to help develop its visual calligraphic craftsmanship culture into a fully independent industrial field.

The simplified writing system and typeface created by Nasri Khattar is entitled the ‘Unified Arabic’. Similarly, what Gutenberg introduced was a unification that produced one single glyph for each letter, thus title of this publication was set to be ‘Unified’. Short and simple, the title adds ambiguity to the collectable and creates interest for the viewer to figure out the link within, and demonstrate the unity between Arabic and Latin.

The subtitle ‘for better and for worse’, is a sentence used during the marriage
of two entities, in this case the Arabic and the Latin. It is a pun which indicates
the fact that Khattar’s ‘Unified Arabic’ was a good solution for some but an
unsatisfactory for others.